Born at Hamilton, Ontario on 1 July 1900, son of Walter Bristow and Prudence Jane Wilson, his childhood was spent at Kelwood where he attended Kelwood School. After receiving a teaching certificate from the Brandon Normal School, he taught at Glencairn School. He then took a medical degree and joined the Manitoba Department of Health as Assistant Superintendent at the Manitoba School for Mental Defectives at Portage la Prairie. In 1939, he took postgraduate training in psychiatry at the University of Minnesota and, from 1940 to 1946, served as Acting Superintendent at the Manitoba School. In the latter year, he became Medical Superintendent at the Brandon Hospital for Mental Diseases. From 1952 to 1953, he studied neuropsychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He returned to Brandon in 1953, resuming his position as Assistant Superintendent and was elevated to Superintendent in 1959. He retired in January 1966. He died at Victoria, British Columbia on 31 January 1985.